Oil history
BY World's Editorials Writers
Tuesday, February 05, 2013
2/05/13 at 8:59 AM
It might be too much to ask that Tulsa get the same deal for an oil and gas museum that Oklahoma City received for an American Indian museum that remains unfinished despite costing taxpayers millions of dollars.
Actually such a museum proposed by Tulsa City Councilor Skip Steele is only an idea at this point and it would not be funded by the city or taxpayers.
Steele thinks there might be sufficient interest among Tulsans who made their names and fortunes in the business that the private sector would pay to build an energy museum.
The museum would be a nice addition to Tulsa's two great museums, Gilcrease Museum and Philbrook Museum. Those treasured facilities, by the way, are named for two great Tulsa oilmen, Thomas Gilcrease and Waite Phillips.
For much of the 20th century Tulsa reigned as Oil Capital of the World.
Steele said such a museum would educate future generations of Tulsans about this city's rich history.
Bob Blackburn, executive director of the Oklahoma Historical Society, says that there are no state-operated oil and gas museums. There are, of course, various exhibits at other museums.
The only way to find out if there really might be interest in an oil and gas museum is to float the idea, which Steele is doing. Let's get Tulsans talking about it and see if oil companies and individuals would contribute to a facility.
Steele already can envision the museum: "On either side of the entrance you would have oil derricks. Arched over the entrance would be a big sign: 'Oil Capital of the World.'
"That is my vision. It would be so cool to see that."
At a minimum, the museum is an intriguing idea - worth, as they say in the oil business, exploration.
